Charita Goshay: Mandela's life holds lessons for the world

As Nelson Mandela is laid to rest today, let's hope that the lessons from his life will not be buried with him.

Charita Goshay CantonRep.com staff writer @cgoshayREP

As Nelson Mandela is laid to rest today, let's hope that the lessons from his life will not be buried with him.

Through Mandela, we learned that we are our brother's keeper; that resistance is not for the timid; that challenging injustice may require you to suffer, even die for your beliefs.

He taught us that we've been lied to: Might doesn't make right, not if the cause is wrong.

We learned that a willingness to change is not weakness, but wisdom. Cast into prison for 27 years, Mandela's will should have atrophied. Instead, he realized the futility of bloodshed and emerged stronger, wielding the indefatigable power of forgiveness.

From Jesus to George Washington, history shows us that agents of change and bearers of truth are unpopular, feared, even reviled. Like prophets, they see clear visions of a future we cannot even fathom. They follow a path not forged by human ingenuity, one which goes against all we know to be familiar.

When Mandela abandoned violence for grace, not everyone understood. But there is nothing more radical than to call for reconciliation rather than revenge. Mandela knew South Africa could never be whole without it.

WRONG SIDE

It hardly seems possible that a nation born out of resistance to oppression and tyranny could have stood so resolutely on the wrong side of history. But even as late as 2008, Mandela remained on a U.S. terrorist watch list. That said, Congress' bipartisan override of President Ronald Reagan's veto of economic sanctions against South Africa in 1986 remains one of that body's finest moments in the modern era.

"I lived in Washington, D.C., when Ronald Reagan was president," said Wuyanbu Zutali, a local peace activist who named his son Nelson. " ... For me, Nelson Mandela's death is a mixed sense of loss and great admiration. I marveled at his sacrifice of freedom as a political prisoner for 27 years. In my mind, he's one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen."

Yet, some consider Mandela not a hero, but a communist and terrorist. The animus is so deep that even conservatives who admire him are getting flayed for saying so.

FACT VS. TRUTH

There is fact, and then there is truth. Mandela was no more a communist than was Lucille Ball. His thinking far surpassed communism's inherently flawed and stagnant approach to governance.

The partnership between the African National Congress and communists wasn't so much about ideology as money, and the fact that the latter embraced integration. Mandela sought their help as a last gasp, after the West refused to help, and his initial bid for dismantling apartheid peacefully was rebuffed with blood and brutality.

"Nelson Mandela's life proves that sometimes, victims are incarcerated and offenders are out in society," said the Rev. Gary Martin, pastor of True Light Christian Ministries. "It is not always the incarcerated that need to be rehabilitated."

Mandela didn't walk on water. He was naive in believing that Fidel Castro was a freedom fighter, or seeing Muammar Gaddafi as a friend worth having, or regarding the late Hafaz al-Assad and Saddam Hussein as anything other than despots. Yet, under his leadership, South Africa became and remains one of Africa's largest democracies.

As Washington Post foreign affairs expert Max Fisher noted last week, Mandela succeeded where his "friends" failed in that once he liberated his country, he willingly relinquished power.

FAITH & WORKS

"Nelson Mandela actualized the words of Apostle Paul, 'Faith without works is not a faith,'" said the Very Rev. Daniel Rogich, pastor of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. "He is the Martin Luther King of South Africa. He stood against and suffered for so many injustices, be it poverty or educational opportunity, but most of all, equality for all races, religions, and genders... Along with Gandhi and King, Mandela should be considered the most positive and hopeful person of the 20th century."

"Nelson Mandela is a perfect example of what my grandmother used to say, 'It doesn't matter what they call you, it's what you answer to that counts,' " said Nadine McIllwain, a retired Canton City Schools educator. "Mandela was called a communist, a terrorist, a traitor. He answers to a proponent of democracy, a man of peace, and a patriot of his beloved South Africa.